Come What May
by practicing17
Summary: A series of chapters to elaborate on events, characters, and story lines in Season 4.
1. Chapter 1

Jasper sees the flash before he hears the gun discharge. He turns on instinct, trying to push Robert down, but his legs won't support his weight, and Robert is backing up anyway, and then Jasper is lying alone on the dias. He hears people shouting, sirens, his pulse ringing in his ear. He hears his phone ping, but he can't tell from where. Can't reach it.

He is cold, and his chest hurts. He tries to sit up, but hands and voices are pushing him back down. They are talking to each other, calling out short, brusque instructions into handheld radios. These are cops and paramedics, not Palace people. He had assembled a team. They must have secured Robert, locked the scene down. There are protocols.

Jasper knows he's bleeding, but time isn't passing properly. It's slowed to a crawl while he feels someone tape a plastic seal onto his torso. It hurts to breathe, like his lungs won't expand. There is a cop in his face now, talking to him. It's the same tone that James Hill uses when he's telling him off, but he's trying to not be a dick about it. "Stay awake! Keep your eyes on me! Please DON'T feed her fistfuls of Maltesers right before bed!" Jasper wants to explain that Sarah Alice's fists aren't that big, but he loses the train of thought.

He feels like he's been lying there a very long time, and then suddenly, someone lifts him, and he's rolling away, looking at sky and then white metal, and then ceiling tiles. Everything is happening too quickly, like the clock is hoping to make up for it's earlier mistake before anyone else notices. That won't work, Jasper knows. Someone is always watching, they always notice. He tries to laugh, but there is blood in his mouth.

He wakes up in a dark, quiet room. His body feels heavy, and his limbs aren't following instructions. Jasper can see Brandon Boone sitting in a chair near a door, frowning. Jasper wonders if he's died and Boone is some sort of demon that will haunt his afterlife. Better Boone than Robert, he thinks, before the room fades away.

The next time he wakes up, he feels lost. Something, no… someone, is missing. The air smells artificial, institutional, which is wrong, because just before he'd opened his eyes, he was sure he'd smelled cucumber and mint. It's the shampoo Eleanor uses in her hair, but it couldn't be here. The room is brighter than it was before. He hears footsteps, steady and precise. He knows the sound, and he's relieved. James Hill is pacing at the foot of the bed, and if he's here, then Jasper figures he can't be dead. He isn't especially spiritual, he'd seen too much corruption masquerading as organized religion as a kid. But he does remember enough from church basement Vacation Bible School to be sure that when the end ultimately comes, he and James Hill are unlikely to end up in the same place.

James pauses in his route around the bed and sees Jasper's eyes open. He smiles and puts one hand on Jasper's forehead. It's a paternal gesture, and Jasper wonders if he should shrink from it, but he can't move fast enough. "You're fine, "James tells him. James looks like hell, his eyes are bloodshot, and his skin is puffy, like he hasn't slept. "She's here, been here for days, I just sent her to get some air. She's home and she's here, and everything is fine." Jasper tries to answer, but his mouth still isn't working and his eyes are heavy, and he thinks if he closes them again the cucumber smell might return. "Just rest," James says. So he does.

"You're going to wake him up!" Eleanor hisses in a whisper.

"You've been crying over him for three days to wake up. Isn't that why we're here?" Brandon Boone fires back, but his voice is low, and there isn't much heat in his tone.

"Shut up!" Eleanor insists. "I don't even know why _you're_ here!" There's no heat in her tone either, and Jasper realizes how nearby she is. He can smell her hair. He can feel her, she's right there, holding his hand. She'll talk to him if he can just make his eyes open.

"To watch over your man there, that's why I'm here. I told Hill I'd watch you both."

"I can watch over myself! And Jasper!"

Boone laughs. "You can. You have the pair of you covered, but I told Hill I'd stay. Just in case you nod off or something."

Eleanor scoffs, "I'm not tired." Jasper can picture her flipping her hair in annoyance.

"You're shattered. But it's working. Look at the monitors."

"Oh my God!" Jasper can feel her hand tighten around his. "Jasper? Can you hear me? Wake up! Please, Baby, I'm right here, please wake up!" He hears every word, but he's still so tired. It takes tremendous effort, but he squeezes her fingers.

He can feel her head hit his shoulder. Her hair is in his face, and his free hand moves to brush it off. He opens his eyes, blinks them shut, then tries again to keep them open. He's awake and she's here. She's crying, which is obviously his fault, but he can't think of what it is he's supposed to have done.

She cups his chin with one hand, turning him towards her. "Hey," she says softly, smiling broadly,

"Hey," he answers back. His voice sounds funny in his ears and his mouth is dry. Eleanor is beaming, and she's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

She's not supposed to be here. She's travelling somewhere, she was in Italy…. "What are you doing here?" He's disoriented. Where is here?

She laughs at him, still crying, and swipes at her eyes. "I wanted to see you." She laughs again, which makes him smile. They are sharing a joke, that much he knows. Memories are coming back, this is supposed to be funny, and maybe important, but he doesn't recall why. Her makeup is a mess, and her eyes are red. She leans in to kiss him and he laughs with her. She came back. And she's with him now, and it can't be because of any trick or game he's played because he hasn't spoken to her in months – he knows that much – but right now, she's here.

Jasper's senses are overloaded. The monitor, which he hadn't noticed until Boone talked about it, is blaring. The light from the windows is too bright. The bedding is scratchy and stiff. He wants to shrink away from all of it, but Eleanor is anchoring his consciousness to this time and place – and he can't be anywhere else but where she is. She's still crying, but she's laughing too. And then Boone is laughing, which, really, should be scary as shit, but somehow isn't. There are a lot of people in the too bright room now, faces he doesn't know. Someone closes the blinds, someone else shuts the lights off. The beeping behind his head stops. It's better, but Boone doesn't like it. His tone is aggressive, and his body language more so. He's moved across the room and is somehow standing between Jasper and a nurse, his body between her and the IV pole that Jasper has just become aware of. Boone barks a few questions, and he seems satisfied with whatever answer he gets, because he moves to stand close to Eleanor. Boone isn't in the way, exactly, but he's clearly _there_. Eleanor flips her hair again. She never lets go of Jasper's hand, but he sees, though half lidded eyes, that she puts her free hand on Boone's wrist. Just two fingers, her thumb on the other side. Jasper knows this gesture, 'Relax, Bodyguard.'

Boone is either much better, or much worse, at this role, because he's having none of it. He flicks his arm out of Eleanor's grasp. "Right," he starts…. "no new meds." He reaches around Eleanor and separates the tube which is connecting Jaspers arm to the IV bag. He makes eye contact with the doctor who has just joined the crowd of strangers around Jasper's feet. "Have at it," he invites,.

The man smirks. He's not intimidated, which Jasper thinks is maybe not too smart. "When did you finish up med school, Boone?" he asks, moving towards the head of the bed. "This is South London, not Helmand". He nods at Eleanor. Eleanor looks back towards Boone with an exaggerated eye roll, that Jasper can feel better than he can see. She beams at the doctor, an expression on her face that she's plainly copied from her mother. It's full-on Royal. She never lets go of Jasper's hand.

The doctor, he's no older, really, than his patient, stoops down to meet Jasper's eye. "I'm Dr. Walsh," he introduces himself. "I was your surgeon, and before that, I served in Afghanistan with your mate back there." He looks back at Boone.

Jasper is still dazed. "We're not really…" he starts to correct.

Walsh laughs, "You've had a rough couple of days, but you are about as well as can be expected." He walks through the examination. He shines an annoying light in Jasper's eyes and asks the nurse at this shoulder to make a note. He makes Jasper move his fingers, and wiggle his toes. Jasper's mouth still feels fuzzy, but he can answer questions, proving that he knows his name and roughly where he is. The doctor pours him a glass of water from the sink on the wall, smiles, says he's doing well, and promises to come back later. He reconnects the IV tubing. Eleanor grins again, Boone scowls. The crowd around Jasper's bed disperses as quickly as it arrived, with a few sideways glances at the former soldiers now squaring off at the side of the room

"Look," Dr. Walsh addresses Boone. "I know you're being cautious, but he needs meds, and fluids, and now that he's conscious, we're going to give him proper food. I don't want him to die in here anymore than you do, but you have to let us work."

"Someone's tried to kill him." Boone says flatly. "They're not likely to stop trying now."

"I understand that. But no one here tried to kill him. You're going to have to give a little, so that he can heal up and get out of here."

"Brandon," Eleanor cuts in knowingly, "You have to trust somebody, sometime."

"Hill is with me on this one, Dorothy." Boone retorts. Jasper is lost. James Hill and Brandon Boone don't agree on much, and Boone and Eleanor do not, last he checked, chat calmly with friendly nicknames. Also, the short list of people who might want to kill him are far away and not well financed. Probably. Maybe he isn't really awake.

"I know what you and James think." Eleanor is placating. "How soon can we take him home?" She asks Walsh. She's woven her fingers into Jasper's, and her fingers feel cool around his. Jasper is awake, but he's way out of step.

Walsh turns back to her. "Maybe tomorrow, if his vitals check out. That left lung isn't great. And he's still pretty out of it. He lost a lot of blood. Maybe the day after."

Eleanor squeezes Jasper's fingers. "Did you hear that?" She asks. "You can come home tomorrow."

"Yeah, that's not exactly what I…"

"We heard what you said." Eleanor's voice is firm. "Mr. Hill and Private Boone are concerned about Mr. Frost's safety whilst he's in hospital. There are people coming in and out, medications we don't know about, too many opportunities to hurt him. We'll take him home tomorrow. You, and your staff have been spectacular. Someone from the Palace will call you in the morning, to make arrangements for appropriate care there. It will be better, for you and your other patients, to have us out of your hair."

Walsh looks like he wants to object, but Boone cuts him off. "She's determined AF, Walsh. Just give the Princess what she wants."

Walsh shrugs. "We'll see. Keep him sitting up, and talking. Get some food into him, I'll come back in a bit."

"Thank you," Eleanor says sincerely.

He turns to Boone, "You're scaring the shit out of the nurses. Knock it off!"

Boone's not even slightly bothered. "That's not very nice. I'm not scary if they'd take the time to get to know me."

Jasper makes a sound, and it becomes a cough, which hurts like hell. Eleanor looks down, concern flickering across her face. Boone smirks, like he knows what Jasper was planning to say, and thinks he deserves the pain. He turns to Walsh, "His nervous system's working great."

Walsh shakes his head, "Nice patient care. Even he," Walsh nods at Jasper, "thinks you're a psychopath. And he's only been conscious half an hour." He sighs in quasi-defeat, "I'll be back for rounds. Page me if you need anything." His tone is friendly, even if the words are obviously not. Whatever bromance is happening here, it seems well established, and Eleanor seems totally comfortable, so Jasper is not going to add it to his list of worries. The longer he's awake, the longer that list gets.

This short interaction has exhausted Jasper. He's overwhelmed that Eleanor is even here. He has a million questions, and he can't prioritize them. Belatedly, it occurs to him that he wasn't alone on that dias. "Where is Robert?" He asks.

"At the Palace. He's fine." Eleanor tells him. "Everyone else is fine."

"What the hell happened?"

"Well, that's the question of the week, innit?" Boone replies.

Eleanor flounces in her seat, glares at Boone. "It doesn't matter. Everybody is okay, and you're coming home. That's what's important."

Boone shakes his head, and walks towards the door. "It will do for now. I'll be outside if you need anything."

Jasper manages a nod. Eleanor leaves the bedside and kisses Boone's cheek. "Thank you," she tells him. Boone blushes, and pushes her off. "Welcome back, Frost. 'Night Dorothy." He closes the door softly behind him.

Eleanor takes Jasper's hand again. "I read your letters. Every one of them. I'm sorry I didn't write back. I couldn't. But I didn't give up on us, and I promise, I won't go anywhere again." She's right there. He could kiss her if he moved his head a little.

"Okay," he says. He knows he's smiling like an idiot. He doesn't mind if she doesn't.

"Okay," Eleanor agrees. Lucky for Jasper, she's not like most people. She won't give up, and together, they will figure this out. This is their second chance, and they are going to seize it.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I've been thinking about the conversations that I imagine happened after the press conference was over! Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts and reviews, I'm really grateful for your time!

"In my experience, these things have a way of working themselves out," Jasper says, looking over his shoulder towards the King he'd just said he was honored to have taken a bullet for.

On the opposite side of the makeshift hospital press platform, James Hill bites the inside of his lip to keep from smiling and thinks, 'Point, Princess and Bodyguard!'

"I think that's enough questions for now." Robert steps forward and takes the microphone. "Mr. Frost still needs his rest." The King appears entirely unruffled by the scrum of reporters below, who continue calling up questions.

Jasper waves off the wheel chair and walks, very slowly, back inside, two steps behind Robert, just the way protocol dictates. Only a very few people in the know recognize that Jasper has just torn up the existing protocols and is making things up as he goes.

Eleanor meets them inside the hospital corridor. She's beaming and bouncing on her toes. "That was brilliant!" She squeals, kissing her brother on the cheek. She flashes a smile at Jasper, and another to James. She's cognizant of the medical people milling around them, and she's trying to maintain some kind of royal decorum because she knows it's important to Robert, but James thinks she might just float right up off the ground. He clears his throat in an effort to be simultaneously supportive and cautionary. He is confident that 'brilliant' is the last word King Robert is thinking right now.

Robert looks at this sister, and then back at his security team. " _That_ ," he waves his hand towards the door, " _that_ was not at all what we'd discussed." He turns to his sister, "Mum said she'd spoken to you…to both of you… this morning."

"She did." Jasper says. His face is grey, and he's holding onto a handrail on the wall for balance, but he meets Robert's eye all the same.

"She did," Eleanor confirms. "But this was a much, _much,_ better solution." Her tone is cooling by the second, and she adopts what Sarah Alice has been known to call her 'princess voice.' She makes sure that the 'princess voice' carries to every doctor, nurse and lab tech still within ear. "Robert, I need to speak to you a moment." She looks at James, "Mr. Hill, Dr. Walsh is not pleased at all that his patient was taking press questions this morning. Can you look after Mr. Frost for us? We will just be down the hall. Try to make him eat something."

"Of course, Princess." James and Jasper share a look, and Jasper, very reluctantly turns into his room.

Jasper is grateful to sit down on the edge of the bed. He's loaded up on pain-killers, but his whole body still hurts like hell. James shuts the door behind them.

"I'm sorry." Jasper says quickly, before James can start.

"Sorry for what?" James asks.

Jasper laughs, weakly, and moves to talk before James cuts him off.

"Sorry for what?" He asks again. "How far back are we going?" He's conversational, "You're sorry for taking the King into South London, even though I specifically said not to? Sorry for getting shot and scaring the life out of everyone? Or sorry for calling an audible out there and not sticking with that ridiculous CIA story?"

Jasper blinks. "Well, not that last one. But yeah, the rest was maybe, kinda dumb."

"I wouldn't call it smart," James agrees, reaching into a cupboard for a cup. "Boone's convinced King Robert set the whole thing up," he continues, setting some crackers on the counter. "Has a whole theory actually. He beat me to the hospital by a good 15 minutes."

"Yeah," Jasper gingerly moves into bed. "We thought something was weird. He was in the crowd…. It's not like I didn't think you had good reason to say no to South London."

"You just didn't have a good reason to let me in on it."

"No!" Jasper contradicts, sitting back up and making James wince a little. "I just didn't want you to have to lie about it!"

"What?" James asks.

"Come on," Jasper says, working to support his weight on his hands and sit up straighter. "Robert was going to ask you, eventually… if something happened. If you get caught in a lie, you get fired. You can't lie about something if you don't know anything about it." Jasper takes a deep breath and wonders how long the stupid British pain pills are supposed to work. "If you're not at the Palace, then who's there to watch after Eleanor… or Liam…or hell, even Helena, she obviously can't do it on her own. And… Sarah Alice, what happens to her if you can't work anywhere?" Whatever medicine they'd given him to get through the press conference has plainly worn off, because literally everything hurts.

James can see that Jasper has reached the end of his tether. He exhales very slowly. "Later," he says carefully, "when you are out of here, and things are … calmer… we are going to work on your trust issues." James hits the button on his earpiece and talks into it, "Find Walsh. And a nurse. Right now." James puts his hands on Jasper's shoulders and pushes him gently, back into the bed. He shakes his head, and silently curses a man in Nevada who he hopes to never lay eyes on. "You have people who will actually help you. You do not have to do everything all by yourself… or with Brandon Boone."

Dr. Walsh slams the door open, with a small cadre of residents and nurses who look edgy. Walsh curses audibly and starts issuing curt instructions to his underlings.

"I'm fine…" Jasper mumbles from his pillow.

"Like Hell!" James says, half a second before Walsh says, "Bullshit!" The Doctor and the erstwhile member of Scotland Yard share a look before the former gets to work. IV lines are reconnected, orders are followed and medicine is administered.

Dr. Walsh turns to James. "He needs more rest if you're serious about taking him out of here."

"I know he does," James concedes. "I think we're done with public spectacle for the day."

"You should talk to Boone," Walsh adds. "And the Princess… they are making homecoming plans."

"Boone is a lunatic." James says.

"He's had a rough go…" Walsh is immediately defensive. It's one thing if he speaks against Boone, it's a whole different story if someone else does.

James recognizes the loyalty. "He has." He says, "and we owe him more than he probably knows"… which doesn't mean he's not insane, James thinks.

Walsh backs off. "He's smarter than you'd think, Boone… I'll talk to him too, but honestly, you all are going to be here for a while. Just look at him." He turns to Jasper, who is fighting drug induced sleep behind them. "He cannot heal like this."

"We can't keep him safe here, " James is concerned.

Walsh shakes his head. "We can… you have people you trust, my team is good, Boone is lurking around…. We need another 24, maybe 48 hours. We can do another two days."

"I'm fine," Jasper says again from his perch in the pillows. His eyes are lidded, he's losing the fight against the medicine in his bloodstream.

James re-evaluates, sharing an exasperated look with the doctor and wondering how, exactly he is going to pull this off. "You'll do," he says to Jasper, watching him give into sleep. "We'll make it work."

Robert has an air about him of long suffering patience. "We had an agreement Lenny, what is wrong with being a CIA oppertaive?"

"Nothing's wrong with it, except that he's not one, so it's one more thing we'd have to lie about. Now the whole world knows Jasper's past, we don't have to hide anything."

"Eleanor," Robert looks at her sideways, "Jasper Frost is no more an appropriate match for you as an admitted conman than he was as a secret one."

"Appropriate? He saved your life, he's perfectly appropriate."

"He is not."

Eleanor tosses her head, she is not having this conversation. Instead she says, "Order of the Garter."

Robert raises one eyebrow, "I beg your pardon?"

Eleanor sighs in exasperation. "Order of the Garter, Robbie… For Jasper! You are going to appoint him, today, and Liam, as he hasn't been added yet."

"That's the most prestigious order of chivalry we have Lenny…. We don't go tossing those appointments out like chocolate buttons," Robert laughs.

"Jasper saved your life, Robbie!" Eleanor's tone is icy. "And, much as it apparently pisses you off, Liam moved heaven and earth to avenge your death… you know, before… when we thought you were actually dead…."

"Yes, and….that's Jasper's actual job… and Liam's for that matter. The Order of the Garter is not a participation trophy!"

Eleanor glares at her oldest brother. "You don't actually believe that!"

Robert glares right back, because he does, apparently, believe just that.

"You are going to do this," Eleanor says.

"And why would I do this?" Robert's tone is just short of taunting.

Eleanor goes for conciliatory. "Because I am your sister, and I'm asking you to… for me, if you won't do it for them."

Robert shakes his head, smiling, "Ask me something else."

Eleanor is finished playing. "I don't want anything else." She shakes her head in annoyance, "I'm asking you to appoint Jasper and Liam to the Order of the Garter. Today. Right now…. And if you don't, I promise, the press, and soon the rest of the country, will be asking why you haven't, probably before breakfast tomorrow."

"And why is that?" Robert seems genuinely curious.

"Because, dear brother, right now, Jasper Frost is the biggest hero this country has seen since you came back from the dead. And… he's a mystery. Your people have known you since the moment you were born…They met Jasper a quarter of an hour ago… Your people have a lot of questions…. And if the Royal family can't answer those questions, they will get answers somewhere else."

"That sounds a little bit like a threat, Lenny."

Eleanor crosses her arms, and faces Robert head on. "Do you know how many people know about the hollowed out book in the Library?" She asks.

Robert is wary, "Which book?"

"In the family Library… there is a hollowed out book, and there are four people on this planet who know about it." Robert takes half a step back as Eleanor keeps talking. She is counting on her fingers, "Dutchy knows, and she told you and me, that's three, and I told Jasper…. So a total of four… And at Christmas, I wrote Jasper a letter, and I put it inside of the book" She pauses, and looks appraisingly at her brother, and her King…. "But here's the thing… Jasper never saw that letter, and Dutchy wasn't at the Palace over Christmas, which begs the question….. " Eleanor cocks one eyebrow, "Did you burn the letter before or after you read it?"

If Robert is surprised, he gives nothing away. "You've had a terrible few days, Lenny. You're upset."

She laughs and shakes her head. "You have no idea." She takes another step backward. "You are going to write a proclamation, appointing Jasper and Liam to the Order of the Garter. Today… Tomorrow morning, when Parliament opens, your buddy Beck is going to read it into the record. It will be the first order of business. We can work out investiture details later. "

Robert looks at his sister like he hasn't seen her before. "And if I decide not to write any such proclamation?"

"Do you know Harper Day?" Eleanor asks. "She was down in the gallery earlier… she and Jasper have met," Eleanor raises one eyebrow, "at Christmastime, I think…. She's been super sweet about publicity for the Hoteleanor Project, I'd love to pay her back with a Jasper Frost exclusive."

"Lenny," Robert starts… "Dad would have…."

Eleanor cuts him off. "I talked to Dad… and I've talked to Mum, and Liam is all in on Jasper. I am choosing love, Robbie. And I really hope you can support that, since love literally took a bullet for you this week, but either way… it is what it is…. I forgive you for the letter, Jasper will too… write the Proclamation, make him a Knight, and let's move forward…. We are a family… we can do this."

Robert is staring at her, slightly gobsmacked. Eleanor relaxes her shoulders. She has a plan forward, regardless of what her brother decides. She doesn't want to talk about it anymore. She walks towards Robert, and kisses him lightly on the cheek. "Let me know what you decide," she says.

Without a backward glance, Eleanor walks out of the conference room they've adopted as their own, and heads back down the hospital corridor. She nods to Rosie, and to a nurse in the hallway, before she turns and walks into Jasper's room.

Robert watches, frowning, as his sister walks down the corridor. He takes his phone out of his pocket, wanting to look busy, and he calculates his next step.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: _Thank you everyone for your kind feedback! I enjoyed this week's episode and wanted to use the chapter to try to tie it in. There are some spoilers for S4E4, so if you haven't seen it yet, don't read this until you do!_

The Queen lets go of Eleanor, and smiles at Jasper as he joins them. Eleanor threads her fingers into his, and shares a look with her mother that he doesn't entirely understand.

"I suppose we've cast this secret to the wind then?" Helena asks.

Eleanor grins. "There will be pictures all over social media as soon as the wi-fi comes back up. Even Rachel can't get NDAs from this many people!" She gently bumps Jasper's shoulder, and he sways on his feet. Eleanor's smile fades to concern, and she reaches around his waist to keep him upright. He wasn't lying, a minute ago, when he said that he'd never been better, but it wasn't a completely factual statement. He's walked practically across London, and the medication he'd been given before he'd been loaded into the ambulance has long ago worn off. His head, and his heart, are better than they've ever been, his chest and his lungs, they could use some help.

"What happened to you?" Helena asks, noticing, for the first time, that Jasper looks a little the worse for wear.

"It's complicated…."

"Where in the bloody Hell have _you_ been?" Jasper tries to turn, assuming by the put-out tone of voice that James is speaking to him. Eleanor squeezes his side, and shakes her head, and Jasper is surprised to see that James is glaring not at him, but at the Queen.

"Ah, Mr. Hill, my favorite Head of Security," Helena starts.

James just keeps glaring at her. Eleanor opens her mouth and James waves an annoyed hand at her, and she stops, and seals her lips shut tight.

"Your other Head of Security killed people." James says flatly, looking as though he might be considering a similar tack.

A lesser woman than Helena would have been cowed. "Well, you see," the Queen begins, "the lock on the wine cellar…".

"Relax, Hill," Cyrus drawls, suddenly appearing out of nowhere, with champagne flutes in his fists. He hands a glass to Helena, and takes a large gulp from the other one. "We got locked into the wine cellar, with the Grand Duchess of Oxford. We've been in the Palace this whole time."

James shakes his head, exasperated. "Of course you have… with the Duchess of Oxford."

"She's resting now…. " Helena adds brightly, "In the wine cellar…."

"Because, where else?" James turns to Jasper. "We have more than a few people out looking for you." Worry creeps into his voice, " You look like shit, are you okay?"

"He's fine," Eleanor answers for him. "He's home safe, he's just a bit tired." She brushes a bit of dust off him. "Maybe a bit dusty," she swipes at her eyes and puts her head on his shoulder.

Jasper is sure that he does, actually, look like shit, but it's so much better to hear that from James than his father. He nods, slowly. "I'll be okay", he confirms."

James relaxes just a fraction. "Well, thank God for small favors. Welcome home." He smiles at them.

"Hill," Cyrus breaks in, "you need to teach your daughter how to pour… there is too much fizz in this glass."

Eleanor winces. "Sorry, Foxy," she whispers. Jasper turns, and sees Sarah Alice struggling to pour a magnum of champagne into a series of crystal flutes. He manages to catch Rosie's eye. She waves to him, pleased that he's okay, and then follows his look and rushes over to help the little girl and save the stemware.

It takes effort, but James manages to ignore the former King.

"Right," he says instead…. taking the glass from Helena's hand, and swallowing the remining contents in one. "What I need,…. _right now, mind,…_ is I need the four of you, to go into the Queen's office, and I need you to stay there. Miss Moreno, and Rosie and I will escort all of your… _guests..._ out of the Palace."

Helena moves quickly. "As you wish, Mr. Hill. As you say, this is your area of expertise." She is all gracious regal cooperation, and she holds her arm out to Cyrus, so he can escort her out of the Red State Room.

"Let me say a few words to the people," Eleanor says to James, watching her mother and uncle leave, "it will make it easier to send everyone home."

James can see the reason in this, "Go ahead," he says.

She squeezes Jasper's hand, and walks towards the front of the room. She stood in the same place, drunk, ages ago, and tried to tell the world that he was blackmailing her. She stopped the band, grabbed the mic and chickened out. And then they'd gone out on the balcony, and he'd been honest, and then defensive and then just shitty, and she'd gotten hurt, and angry ... and she'd outsmarted him, and she left. And he very nearly lost her.

She addresses the crowd in her 'Princess voice'. She's smiling, warm and friendly, and it's obvious that the people love her. No one in this group would believe she was the same angry girl at the Masquerade if they'd seen her.

"I just have a few more words to say," she tells them. "I know you are all anxious to be getting home…. I just need to thank you all for coming here tonight…. For showing faith in us, your family," she stops and collects herself, "For your faith in your Royal family. It is our greatest privilege to be worthy of your trust in difficult times. Like so many of you, I was terrified for loved ones last night…". She pauses again and smiles at Jasper. "And I thank you for helping me through that, and please know that your Royal family is praying for each and every other person who is still working to find their way home." A few members of the crowd turn to look at Jasper, and he tries to smile back, but his chest hurts, and it's getting harder and harder to stand upright.

"She's unbelievable, this girl," James says to Jasper under his breath, the pride evident in his voice.

"She's breathtaking," Jasper agrees. "Look," he says, "I need to talk to you… it's important."

James nods, looking his former protégé in the eye. "Is this going to be about your miraculous rescue from an abandoned ambulance during a South London riot?"

"It is, yeah."

"And possibly a problem with the no-fly list?"

Jasper is stunned. James can't know that his father is here… there's just no way that he could know that.

"How did you….?" Jasper's chest is aching now, and it might not just be because there was recently a bullet in it.

James grasps Jasper's shoulder. "Rosie saw some fishy images in some CTV footage from Heathrow. I didn't tell you about it because I didn't have anything definitive, and you, had quite enough to be getting on with. He never came into the hospital, but Boone saw him nearby." His tone is serious, but its low, and kind. "What is important, right now, is that you are home safe. We will sort out all of the rest of it. I promise."

Jasper nods, believing him. James continues, "Right now, in this moment, I need to get your girlfriend out of this room. I need to get some proper medication and maybe some food into you. I need my daughter to stop playing cocktail waitress…. And I guess I need to get the damn Duchess of Oxford out of the wine cellar. "

Jasper is fading fast, but he laughs. He is focused on short, one syllable words… home… safe….we… and girlfriend, which is obviously two syllables, but sounds nice. He's getting punchy.

"Okay," he says. It takes too much energy to say that he thinks the Duchess will be fine in the wine cellar for a while, but he thinks James probably knows that. "My Dad… he wanted me to bring him here. Don't let him in. They're not safe if he's here."

James takes this seriously. "I'll do my best," he promises.

"And finally," Eleanor is wrapping up," I have to thank a few very special people, without whom we would not be able to do what we do on any day, but especially a day like this one." She calls out James, and he has to wave to the same crowd that he is anxious to disperse. Then she says, "And last but not least, heartfelt thanks to my crowd of badass bi" she catches James' raised eyebrow and corrects her language, "unstoppable girls who dropped everything to help make this work – Willow, our social media maven, Rosie, the best bodyguard a girl could ask for, and our munchkin, Sara Alice, banisher of ghosts and slayer of Zombies. Now… of you go!"

The crowd cheers, and slowly people begin making their way to the doors.

Eleanor walks back up to James and Jasper. "They won't all leave unless I do," she says, knowingly, taking Jasper's hand again. "Queen's office, you said?", she smiles at James, all innocence now, as if she hadn't just taught the man's daughter how to pop a champagne cork.

"Yes please, Princess." James is willing to play along, but he knows that Eleanor knows he's not buying it. She beams at him and pulls Jasper towards the family quarters.

"Princess," James stops her, "His," he points to Jasper, who has now lost enough color in his face that it matches the wall, "his medicine is in your room. You may make one stop…"he holds up his finger for emphasis, "one. Put some painkillers into him, and feed him something, but do not get… distracted." It's Eleanor's turn to raise an eyebrow, and then she looks again at Jasper who looks more likely to fall down than engage in any of their usual distractions. She smiles fondly at them both and nods to James, "of course," she says. "We will keep Mum and Uncle Cyrus in line for you."

"If anyone can do it, Princess, it's you." He waves them off, and turns to face the remains of the festivities in the Red State Room, which run the risk of becoming a bit too festive now that the alcohol has had time to set in and the anxiety is lifting.

Eleanor leads Jasper down the familiar hallway and stops in front of her double doors. She pulls her mouth into a small frown. "I had a whole thing planned…. Before, you know, the lights went out…" She laughs a little, "so, I want a rain check on the thing."

"Okay," he agrees. He gets it. He's walked in these doors a hundred times, at least, but this time is different. He's not carrying her home drunk, or barging in uninvited, or sneaking in after dark and setting an alarm on his phone so he has time to sneak back out before work in the morning. This is different. This time, when he walks in, the room is _theirs…._ And they don't have too many things that are _theirs_ , so this is big.

She kisses him, full on, like she's been doing for days, and he is vaguely aware that she has fisted both of his jacket lapels in her hands in an effort to keep him from falling over. He breaks off the kiss when he realizes that she doesn't have the counter-balancing weight to pull that trick off.

"Okay," she says, and pushes the door open.

He takes in the space, and smiles. It's still very Eleanor, but somehow, between trips back and forth to the hospital and planning a dance for Becky Beauregard, she's managed to make some changes to the room. There's a new bureau, next to hers on the wall, and a second desk in front of the window. And a genuinely ridiculous pillow with his initial painted on in glitter. It's possible that Becky Beauregard herself picked that out, but he kind of loves it, because Eleanor has put it on her side of the bed, and there's a matching 'E" pillow on his. The wingback chairs are still in the sitting area, and she pushes him gently into one.

She chats busily, moving around the room. She's nervous and fidgety. She walks over to the new bureau and pulls out a middle drawer full of T-shirts and sets it on the bed. She reaches inside and pulls out a box and brings it over to the coffee table. "A secret drawer," she says, almost shyly..."It made me think of you. Also…" her voice gets a little more confident, "Sarah Alice is in here all the time, and some of this medicine is dangerous for children." She opens the secret box and takes out one of several prescription bottles, and tips two into her hand. "Sopadol," she declares… and then she reads the back of the bottle, frowns, glances at Jasper's prone frame, and tips out a third one. "Wait," she says, and hurries over to the bar and pours some club soda into a glass. She digs around under the bar counter and comes up with a packet of water crackers. "It says you should take it with food… we'll have to order actual food… but the Chef has been a bit pre-occupied…." There is no sign of the girl who use to keep a rainbow of drugs in a candy dish on the coffee table. He obediently swallows his pills, and eats a cracker to make her happy, even though he has no appetite.

"This is…." He begins, trying to find the right thing to say.

"Is it okay?" she cuts him off anxiously. This is the most important room she's ever styled. Ever.

"It's amazing," he says, pulling her down into his lap. "I can't believe you did all this!" He buries his face into her hair, inhaling cucumber and mint and peace and home. "I love you. I love this… it's amazing."

She doesn't answer back, but he can feel her relax in his arms. They stay that way, in an easy quiet, until Eleanor suddenly squeals, "I forgot the best part!" She jumps up, and runs to the desk that Jasper presumed was his. She pulls open the bottom drawer. "Look at this," she calls.

Jasper can't see from the chair, but the medicine Eleanor has given him is starting to work, so he stands up and warily walks over to her. He looks down and starts laughing. He wraps an arm around Eleanor. "Is that a gun safe?" He asks her.

"That," she says, entirely proud of herself, "is _your_ gun safe… in _your_ desk. So that you," she pokes his chest, "can come _home_ from work, and lock your gun away, every… single… day." She stands on her toes and kisses him again, and she doesn't have to hold him up this time.

"You hate having guns in here," he reminds her.

"I hate having guns in the chimney and taped under the vanity…. I can live with your gun, locked up, in there, when you are not working."

"I can live with that," he smiles, returning the kiss. "Plus, there's Sarah Alice." He's teasing and she knows it. His gun had been locked in the control room whenever he wasn't wearing from the day Sarah Alice had moved in.

"Don't joke," she warns… she's tired, and protective of her smallest friend.

"I'm not joking," He's not. "She will be much safer this way." He pauses, he's exhausted, and he isn't good about talking about his feelings. "You made a real home for us, I love it, it's perfect."

She kisses him again. "I promised James I wouldn't distract you," she reminds him a few minutes later, and he reluctantly releases her.

"Okay."

"You look a little better," she says, leading him towards the door, the same one they'd painted together. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

"Yeah." If Eleanor isn't going to distract him, then Jasper just wants to rest…. He's not particular as to where.

They walk down the hall to the Queen's office, and through the open double doors. The Queen Mother and her former brother-in-law are slumped on one end of the sofa and look like their tequila hangovers have officially taken root. Eleanor sighs, and directs Jasper onto the opposite end of the sofa, and curls up next to him, with her knees up on the seat. They rest there, the four of them, just like James asked them to do, until Rachel comes in to announce the new guest.


	4. Chapter 4

_This chapter is a bit sappy, but I really needed a scene between these two! Thanks for being patient!_

Jasper opens his eyes and meets concerned blue ones, staring back at him.

"I'm not supposed to wake you up," Sarah Alice reports.

"No?" Jasper slowly sits up, and orients himself – he's in bed in Eleanor's room… in their room. The people who had been taking sanctuary in the Palace had all gone home. Jasper had tried to explain the nonsense of his father appearing as a made up Italian count with a name that anyone other than a member of this royal family would have immediately recognized as fake. The Queen had shrugged it off – she was still badly hungover – and Eleanor had kissed him. She was excited to meet his dad later and she started making plans to get her hands on Jasper's baby pictures. Only James had understood that this was an emergency, or at least he said he did, but he insisted on letting Earl's plot stretch out a little longer to see where it led. James was much more concerned with immediate details. He forced Jasper to eat a sandwich he'd procured from somewhere. He watched him down a bottle of water. James and Eleanor seemed to have some kind of silent conversation over Jasper's head, and then James sent them both back to her room… their room… with instructions to get cleaned up and sleep.

Jasper hadn't needed to be told twice. He took a quick shower in the bathroom off the closet. He'd considered shaving, and then decided not to bother. He was tired enough that he'd probably cut himself to ribbons, and Walsh had him on some kind of blood thinner from the surgery and had warned him to be careful. He found a drawer that had some of his clothes in it – he had no idea how Eleanor had tracked them down – James, probably. He'd pulled on a t-shirt and some flannel pajamas that Eleanor had bought for Christmas pictures that they'd never taken, and then fell into bed. Eleanor had smiled at him and handed him another round of medicine. He was too tired to even ask what it was for.

"I am so grateful to have you home," she told him. "I might never let you out of this bed again!"

He laughed, sinking into the bedding, reaching for her, and pulling her closer. "Later," he promises, "I might hold you to that."

"Mmm, hmmm," she mumbled, sleepy, and happy to have him back.

Now he doesn't know how long he's been asleep. Eleanor's side of the bed is empty, and Sarah Alice is standing warily on his righthand side. She looks every bit like a kid who has been up all night, eating cake, and trying to not be scared. She has dark circles under both eyes, and she's dressed in blue and white pajamas with birds on them.

Jasper sits up, slowly. He feels better for the sleep he's gotten, though his chest is sore, and he's very aware of the stiches in his side.

He smiles at Sarah Alice. "What time is it?"

She shrugs, "I don't know. Daddy said it was time for bed."

That gives Jasper literally nothing to work with. He grabs his phone off of the bedside table. It's a quarter after 6, later than he thought, but not exactly bedtime.

He looks at her, raises one eyebrow. "So how come you're not in bed?"

"I'm not sleepy."

This is a fight that James has plainly already lost, and not one that Jasper can win. "No, you don't look sleepy," he lies, wondering where everyone else is. "I missed you," he tells her… not lying… and climbing out of bed, slowly.

"The hospital wouldn't let me come." Sarah Alice looks like she might cry, "I asked, but they wouldn't let me…. And Liam said he would bring me anyway, but then Len and Daddy said you were coming home… and then you got stuck…." She's pulling on the hem of her pajama top and biting her lip.

"I know you wanted to," Jasper says. "Len brought me your pictures." Sarah Alice had sent Eleanor back to the hospital with a collection of assorted happy caterpillar drawings, which had been pinned up to every available surface. "And now you are here…. So everything is fine." He smiles at her, willing her to not start crying. He has not shed a single tear since this whole mess started…. Not when he got shot, not when Eleanor came back, not when his asshole father appeared in the middle of a riot to pull him out of an ambulance, and not when he finally kissed his girl in front of a room full of people and gave up his last real secret…. He hasn't cried… because if he starts, he might not stop for a very, very long time… So it feels very important that no one start crying.

Jasper makes his way towards the bar on the wall. On instinct, he opens the small refrigerator, looking for something to distract his overtired friend. He gets lucky. Eleanor must have been planning ahead, because he finds bottles of Ribena, stood up in neat rows, next to cans of Guinness on the shelf. "Look," he says to Sarah Alice, pulling one of each out of the fridge, "The Princess loves us." He opens a Ribena bottle for her, and hands it over.

"Of course, she does," Sarah-Alice answers, like he's just announced that the sky is blue. There are truths in her world that are unassailable – markers are in the bin under the window seat, Daddy will be home for tea, the Princess loves them.

Sarah Alice grins over her bottle. "Daddy says this is just sugar."

Jasper pops open his beer can, and pours it into a glass. He likes the ritual. Liam swears that it tastes better this way, and Eleanor has gone to the effort of finding beer glasses somewhere, so even though it feels stilted, he does it.

"It's worse than sugar," he tells Sarah Alice, toasting her with his beer glass, which he notices has the monogram EMH printed on it. "That stuff is disgusting."

She takes a big sip. "It's delicious!" She reports happily.

He laughs at her. "The Princess thinks this stuff is healthy -it's got antioxidants… and we need those… so for tonight, we're good."

Sarah Alice settles into the couch. "What are antioxidants?"

"They help to keep you healthy, like vitamins, or something." He doesn't really know, actually, but that sounds reasonable. He sits down next to her, and drapes his arm over the back of the couch.

Sarah Alice scoots over, snuggling into his side. "Will they help the hole in you?" She wonders.

Which hole? He thinks, but stops himself from saying… broodiness is a step on the road to crying. He assumes she means the bullet hole, so he answers, with a confidence he doesn't feel, "Of course they will." His hand, he notices, fits perfectly across her head, and he smooths her curls back with his palm. She sighs, pulling her feet up under herself and taking another sip of soda.

"Your voice is funny," Sarah Alice says.

"Funny how?" He asks, not understanding her.

"Your accent is funny," she repeats. "Like an American voice in a movie."

Shit, Jasper thinks. How is he supposed to explain this? "This is my real voice… my real accent, actually." He tells her. "I used to pretend that I had a British accent for work, but now I'm not doing that."

"Why were you pretending?"

Because I was lying about everything. He hedges, "it's complicated, but I don't have to anymore, so I'm just going to use my American accent now. It will be easier."

Sarah Alice accepts this, the way children do. Jasper remembers being small. Adults were always doing silly things that made little sense – wearing costumes, banging down doors, switching cars, moving house in the middle of the night - changing accents wasn't that big a deal, really. Of course, Jasper reasons, he's the only adult in Sarah Alice's life who was likely to do any of those things. James is as straight an arrow as they come. The fact that he lets a con-man from Las Vegas within 100 miles of his daughter is a gift Jasper has never really understood.

Sarah Alice takes another gulp of her drink, and rests her head on Jasper's chest. "When did you live in America?" She asks.

"For a long time," he says, smoothing her hair back again. "Until I moved here to work at the Palace."

She laughs. "That's how come you can play baseball.".

He smiles and squeezes her a little tighter. "You're a good detective," he tells her. Back in the spring, he'd given her a baseball glove. He'd ordered it online – pink with black lacing and had it shipped to the Palace. He'd shown her how to break it in with a mallet, and then wrapped it up with a ball and elastic bands and told her to sleep with it under her mattress. Liam somehow got a bucket of dust colored baseballs and an aluminum bat from the US Embassy and the pair of them had spent hours with Sarah-Alice in the palace gardens teaching her how to catch pop-flies and throw the ball back to a fielder. After a few weeks, it somehow grew into a bigger thing. One of the Beefeaters from the Palace Garrison had shown up with his nephew and a batting tee. A Marine guard at the Embassy who knew Rosy had a step daughter who could pitch. They didn't have enough kids to make up a team exactly, but they could make do. It wasn't a bad way to kill an afternoon, and James had just shaken his head and let them get on with it. His sister-in-law, Sarah Alice's mother, had been American, and he didn't know a thing about baseball, plus this was as good a way as any to keep Liam out of underground fight clubs. That James also saw U8 baseball as a way to occupy his subordinate and maybe keep him from pining away too hard after the Princess was a truth that remained unspoken.

Sarah-Alice is quiet for a long time, and Jasper wonders if she's fallen asleep before she lifts her head up again. "The TV announcer thought you might be dead."

"Which TV announcer?" Eleanor had mentioned this, that Sarah- Alice had heard about the shooting on television. He should have prepared some kind of answer.

She puts her drink bottle down on the floor and hugs her knees to her chest. "The Announcer on TV in Daddy's office, right after someone shot at you." She takes a deep breath. "She said that you were shot because someone was trying to kill King Robert. Then that man who shares her desk, he said he thought that it would be impossible for someone to survive a shot like that, and the Announcer said that they had to wait for news from authorities. " Sarah Alice huffs again, "And then Willow said it was time to turn the TV off."

"Hmmm…. That must have been scary…." This, Jasper thinks, sounds like something James would say.

"It was scary. And then Willow made some phone calls and shouted at some people. She was pretty mad."

"Really?"

"She was. And then Rachel came into the office and said that Robert was coming back to the Palace, and Daddy was going to the hospital, and asked if we'd seen the Princess. Only we hadn't seen the Princess, because we thought she was still abroad making hotels. And then Rachel said that it would probably be better if Willow didn't call anymore TV stations, and she made her drink some of the nasty brown drink that Daddy keeps in the bottom desk drawer."

Jasper is trying to picture this. He knows about the bourbon in James's desk, because he'd done a thorough reconnaissance of the whole office – it's not snooping if James assumes it's happening. Then it's just work. Jasper is sure that James has gone through most of his things too. Jasper has never really pictured Willow under pressure. He can't really see her telling off a television producer, but she's probably up to it. Jasper knows that Willow hasn't taken much shit off of Liam, and figures that must say something.

"Did Rachel take you back upstairs?"

"No…. King Robert turned up, and asked Rachel to look in on the Queen. Willow hugged him – hard – and then told him he needed to go and change his shirt."

This confirms a suspicion that Jasper has had for a few months, since just after Eleanor went abroad. In the whole time that Jasper has been the King's Detail, to Jasper's certain knowledge, King Robert and Willow have never, not once, gone out. They have never had coffee at a local shop, or even had a business lunch at a City hotel. But there have been a handful of overlong conversations stretching past working hours, and the King has shown a lot more interest in his social media strategy than was strictly necessary.

"And what happened after that?"

"Willow said it was time for tea. She made toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches in the staff kitchen, and then King Robert came back in a clean shirt and we ate them."

"You ate tea with King Robert and Willow in the staff kitchen?"

"Umhmm," Sarah Alice nods, curling back under Jasper's arm. She turns to look up at him. "We had tea, and then Willow said she had some work to do, and King Robert asked if I could play in the library down the hall. So I went to draw some pictures and then a little bit after that Eleanor came home."

Jasper makes a mental note. There is more going on between Willow and the King than most people realize.

"It was nice of them to look after you." It was, actually, nicer than Jasper would have usually given Robert credit for.

"They're okay," Sarah Alice agrees, trying to be fair. "Robert came to check on me while Willow was shouting at someone else on the phone. He liked my drawings."

Jasper laughs, "Of course he did. You are excellent at drawing."

He's rewarded with a sleepy giggle. Sarah Alice buries herself deeper into his side. He holds her tighter, and pulls the throw blanket off the back of the couch and tries, awkwardly, to cover her with it.

Sarah Alice's head shoots up. "I'm not tired," she declares.

"I know," he's placating, "I'm just cold." The country is in the middle of a record breaking heat wave, and Jasper suspects that the air handling equipment in this part of the Palace might pre-date Churchill, but he thinks she might actually sleep with a blanket over her, so he's going to give it a shot.

Sarah Alice huffs, but settles back into him. "Daddy said that you would be tired."

"I am… a little." He's wiped out again actually. It's frustrating how little stamina he has. Walsh had warned him about this, given him a whole song and dance about taking things slowly, and being patient. Jasper had intended to ignore every piece of this advice, and is annoyed to find that he might have to live with some of it. Just crossing the room, opening two drinks, and carrying on a conversation is exhausting.

She is quiet again, and Jasper mistakenly thinks she's given in to sleep at last when she asks one more question. "Are you home for good?"

His breath catches in his throat. Is he? Can he be at home here, in the Palace, in this room with the gun safe and the silly pillows? Home… here with Eleanor, and Liam, and James, and this unbelievable little girl. They are not his blood family, but they have, for no good reason that Jasper can see, taken him in. This is the most homelike place he's ever had. "Yeah…. I'm home for good."

Sarah Alice makes a little contented wiggle under his arm, and adjusts the throw she's insisted she didn't need, pulling it up under her chin, and sharing some of it by draping it over his legs. He doesn't say anything else, but listens for a long time while her breathing settles out and she finally sleeps.

He lets his eyes fall shut. He's just going to rest with her for a minute and then he'll get up. Eleanor will be back soon, she's probably just checking on her mother, or more likely trying to chat up his father. That's going to be a problem. He'd like to talk to James some more. James will know how to address the Earl situation, and James can carry his daughter back to her own room. Jasper is a little worried he might drop her if he tried. He should look for Liam. His friend has been broody, and weird, and holed up with Cyrus. Jasper doesn't need to be wide awake to know that that will end poorly.

Sarah Alice shifts in her sleep and makes a little sound. Instinctively, Jasper smooths her hair back again, fixes the blanket, whispers some nonsense to soothe her. He's tired. He'll just sit with her for another little while till she's settled. It is nice to be home.

Home for good.


End file.
